During a house search, 35 grams of cocaine are seized. That sounds like a manageable amount. But the expert report finds a purity of 50 percent – and with it 17.5 grams of pure substance. The threshold quantity for cocaine is 15 grams. Instead of a misdemeanour under § 27 SMG carrying a maximum of one year, a felony under § 28a SMG is suddenly on the table – punishable by up to five years‘ imprisonment.

The threshold quantity is the single most important figure in Austrian narcotics law. It separates a misdemeanour from a felony, determines the sentencing range and decides whether diversion is still possible. What matters here is not the total weight, but exclusively the pure substance of the active ingredient. That distinction can mean years.

On this page I explain, as a criminal defense lawyer in Vienna, what the threshold quantity is, where it lies for each substance, and which lines of defense exist when it is exceeded. It sits at the centre of the wider field of drug offences in Austria.

From the threshold quantity to the sentencing range

What is the threshold quantity? – § 28b SMG

The threshold quantity is the statutory minimum quantity of the pure substance of a drug from which the law assumes a danger on a large scale to the life or health of people. It is set individually for each substance in the Narcotic Threshold Quantities Ordinance (Suchtgift-Grenzmengenverordnung, SGV) and always refers to the pure active ingredient – not to the total weight including cutting agents.

The legal basis is § 28b SMG. It empowers the Federal Minister for Health, in agreement with the Minister for Justice, to fix the threshold quantities by ordinance. In doing so, both the dangerousness of the substance and its potential for habituation must be taken into account.

Two ordinances, two sets of rules

For narcotic drugs (cannabis, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines and the like), the Narcotic Threshold Quantities Ordinance (SGV) applies on the basis of § 28b SMG. For psychotropic substances (certain benzodiazepines, synthetic substances), the Psychotropic Threshold Quantities Ordinance (Psychotropen-Grenzmengenverordnung, PGV) applies on the basis of § 31b SMG. Both ordinances state the threshold quantities in grams of pure substance.

Why the threshold quantity is so decisive

The threshold quantity is the dividing line between a misdemeanour and a felony. Below the threshold there is a misdemeanour under § 27 SMG – with a sentencing range of a maximum of one year. Once the quantity exceeds the threshold, the felony provisions of §§ 28 and 28a SMG take hold. The sentencing ranges rise to up to 5, 10 or even 15 years. Diversion becomes more difficult. And jurisdiction shifts from the District Court (Bezirksgericht) to the Regional Court (Landesgericht).

Threshold-quantity table – all the key substances

The following table shows the threshold quantities of the drugs most frequently encountered in practice. The SGV lists more than 150 substances across several annexes – set out here are the most practically relevant. All values refer to the pure substance of the active ingredient.

Source: Narcotic Threshold Quantities Ordinance (Suchtgift-Grenzmengenverordnung, SGV), BGBl. II No. 377/1997 as amended, RIS. The street-level column is based on typical purity grades and serves as orientation only – for the criminal-law assessment, only the pure substance counts. For salts, the threshold quantity refers to the base of the respective substance.

Cannabis: THCA and Delta-9-THC

For cannabis, two separate threshold quantities apply: 40 grams for THCA and 20 grams for Delta-9-THC. In practice, it is examined which value reaches the threshold first. With typical street cannabis containing around 10 percent THCA, 40 grams of THCA pure substance corresponds to roughly 400 grams of cannabis herb. Many defendants are unaware of this distinction between the two forms of THC – yet it can decide between a misdemeanour and a felony.

§ 27 vs. § 28 vs. § 28a – the tiered system

The Narcotic Substances Act grades criminal liability into three tiers. The decisive factor is the quantity in relation to the threshold. Below it, the matter remains a misdemeanour. Above it, felony law begins, with drastically higher sentencing ranges.

§ 27 SMG – unauthorised handling (below the threshold)

§ 27 SMG covers the acquisition, possession, production and passing on of drugs below the threshold quantity. It is a misdemeanour. This is the level of the possession of a small amount of drugs.

For § 27 offences, diversion under § 35 SMG is possible. The public prosecutor’s office may provisionally discontinue the proceedings – for example, subject to the condition of undergoing therapy.

§ 28 SMG – preparation of drug trafficking (above the threshold)

§ 28 SMG covers the acquisition, possession or transport of drugs above the threshold quantity where there is an intent to put the drug into circulation. It is a felony – no longer a misdemeanour.

§ 28a SMG – drug trafficking (above the threshold, actual dealing)

§ 28a SMG concerns actual dealing: producing, importing, exporting, offering, handing over or procuring drugs above the threshold quantity. Here the harshest penalties in narcotics law apply.

The tiered system at a glance

How is the threshold quantity calculated?

The threshold quantity always refers to the pure substance of the active ingredient. This means: it is not the total weight of the seized substance that counts, but the actual proportion of the pure active ingredient. An expert report from the chemical laboratory determines the purity.

The formula

Pure substance (g) = gross weight (g) × purity (%)

Worked example 1: amphetamine

1. Seized: 200 g of amphetamine (street quality)
2. Purity per the report: 15%
3. Pure substance: 200 g × 0.15 = 30 g
4. Threshold quantity for amphetamine: 10 g
5. Result: 3× the threshold → § 28a para 1 SMG (up to 5 years)
6. Not yet 15-fold → § 28a para 2 (large quantity) does not yet apply

Worked example 2: cocaine

1. Seized: 30 g of cocaine
2. Purity: 60%
3. Pure substance: 30 g × 0.60 = 18 g
4. Threshold quantity for cocaine: 15 g
5. Result: threshold narrowly exceeded → § 28a para 1 SMG

Worked example 3: cannabis

1. Threshold THCA: 40 g | threshold Delta-9-THC: 20 g
2. Seized: 400 g of cannabis herb
3. THCA content per the report: 10% → 400 g × 0.10 = 40 g THCA
4. Delta-9-THC content: 5% → 400 g × 0.05 = 20 g Delta-9-THC
5. Result: both thresholds exactly reached – it is examined which value is exceeded first

In practice, the purity is frequently the decisive line of defense. Street cocaine rarely has 70 percent purity. Street amphetamine is often only 10 to 20 percent. A low purity can make the difference between a misdemeanour and a felony.

Aggregation intent – when individual quantities are added up

Individual sales, each of which lies below the threshold quantity, can be added together. But not automatically. For this, the Supreme Court (OGH) requires the so-called aggregation intent (Additionsvorsatz): the perpetrator must have had, from the outset, the continuous commission and the addition effect linked to it within their intent.

Requirements according to the OGH

• An intent, formed from the outset, to fulfil the offence on an ongoing basis
• A uniform factual situation and the same underlying motivation
• Mere temporal continuity is not sufficient
• A reference to „about 25 to 50 individual acts“ without a concrete link to the offence period is not enough for the aggregation intent

Where the aggregation intent is missing, the individual sales remain misdemeanours under § 27 SMG – with a maximum range of one year per act instead of up to five years under § 28a SMG.

Adding up different substances

The OGH has confirmed that different drugs can be added together. Cocaine amounting to three-quarters of the threshold plus heroin amounting to two-thirds of the threshold together produce an exceedance. There is, however, one restriction: drug quantities relating to different offences of a cumulative mixed offence (kumulatives Mischdelikt) may not be set in relation to the threshold quantity and their percentages may not be added.

Supreme Court (OGH) case law on threshold quantities

The following decisions of the Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) are particularly relevant in practice for threshold-quantity cases. They show how the OGH handles aggregation intent, sentencing and findings on intent.

OGH 12 Os 146/05w (23 February 2006) – aggregation intent

Between the summer and October 2004, a defendant passed marijuana and hashish in small individual quantities to several buyers – at least 500 g of marijuana and 200 g of hashish in total. The OGH made clear: combining the individual quantities into a large quantity presupposes that the intent, from the outset, encompassed the continuous commission and the addition effect. This decision is the foundation for every aggregation-intent case.

OGH 11 Os 93/21t (2 November 2021) – unity of action within the offence

Where an aggregation intent exists from the outset, several successive acts are linked into a single unity of action within the offence (tatbestandliche Handlungseinheit) and constitute one single act. The OGH clarified: the qualification of commercial dealing under § 28a para 2 no. 1 SMG only comes into consideration where there are several legally independent acts. In practical terms this means: where all the partial acts form one single act, commerciality cannot be based on this alone.

OGH 11 Os 134/18t (29 January 2019) – sentencing where the threshold is exceeded

Where an offence that merely presupposes exceeding a single threshold quantity is fulfilled only in its simple form, the court may take the extent of the exceedance into account as an aggravating factor in sentencing. That means: a 3-fold exceedance of the threshold is, in practice, punished more severely than a narrow exceedance – even though both formally fall under § 28a para 1. This does not amount to a breach of the prohibition on double evaluation (Doppelverwertungsverbot, § 32 para 2 of the Criminal Code, StGB).

OGH 13 Os 13/13f (29 August 2013) – intent as to the pure substance

Findings must be made on all the elements of the offence – including on intent as to the pure-substance content. An acquittal without a complete examination of the subjective side of the offence breaches § 281 para 1 no. 9 lit a of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO). In this case, the subject was 8,216 g of cannabis resin with a purity of at least 10.77 percent and a pure substance of 884 g Delta-9-THC – more than 25 times the threshold quantity (§ 28a para 4 no. 3 SMG). The OGH requires the court to establish whether the defendant was at least conditionally aware of the quality and purity.

OGH 13 Os 118/25i (7 January 2026) – recent confirmation

A recent decision concerned 2,000 g of heroin with a pure substance of 860 g of heroin base – corresponding to roughly 287 times the threshold quantity (threshold for heroin: 3 g). The OGH confirmed the rules on combining partial quantities over an extended offence period: the intent must encompass the partial quanta and the continuous commission, including the addition effect.

Diversion and therapy instead of punishment

For offences below the threshold quantity (§ 27 SMG), there are established alternatives to a conviction. § 35 SMG allows the public prosecutor’s office to provisionally discontinue the proceedings – typically subject to a health-related measure such as drug counselling or therapy. § 37 SMG governs judicial diversion.

Threshold exceeded – is diversion still possible?

Once the threshold quantity is exceeded, diversion becomes considerably more difficult, but it is not automatically excluded. Privileged treatment under § 28 para 4 or § 28a para 3 SMG can substantially reduce the sentencing range. The precondition is that the act served exclusively the defendant’s own use and that a drug addiction exists. In that case, for instance, the range of § 28a para 1 drops from up to five years to up to three years.

Charged with drug trafficking: what to do

Where you are being investigated for drug trafficking under §§ 28 or 28a SMG, there are concrete lines of defense. Experience shows: the earlier a specialised narcotics-law lawyer is brought in, the better the starting position. The most important steps, in order:

1. Stay silent. Give the police no information about the quantity, the origin, the intended use or your contacts. Any statement about regular sales or a planned handover can support the aggregation intent. Your right to silence is not an admission of guilt.
2. Challenge the purity. The expert report of the chemical laboratory determines the purity. That report can be questioned: the method of sampling, the storage of the substance, the analytical procedure. A difference of a few percentage points in the purity can decide whether the threshold is exceeded or not.
3. Contest the aggregation intent. Where individual partial sales are to be added together, the prosecution must prove that an overarching intent existed from the outset. Spontaneous or situational individual sales over a longer period do not establish an aggregation intent. Without it, the individual acts remain misdemeanours under § 27 SMG.
4. Contest the intent as to the quantity. The OGH requires the defendant to have had at least conditional intent as to the specific quantity of pure substance (OGH 13 Os 13/13f). If the accused was not aware of the quality and purity of the drug, the subjective element for exceeding the threshold is missing.
5. Assert privileged treatment for own use. Privileged treatment under § 28 para 4 or § 28a para 3 SMG substantially reduces the sentencing range where the act served exclusively the defendant’s own use and a drug addiction exists. In practice, this privilege is invoked far too rarely.

Frequently asked questions on threshold quantities in narcotics law

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